Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid
OSLO — An Israeli plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza at hubs controlled by the military is "fundamentally against humanitarian principles", the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council [NRC] told AFP on Monday.
Israel's security cabinet said there was "currently enough food" in the territory which has been under full Israeli blockade since March 2, and approved overnight the "possibility of humanitarian distribution" in Gaza.
"We cannot and will not do something which is fundamentally against humanitarian principles," Jan Egeland told AFP.
He said "the United Nations agencies, all other international humanitarian groups and NGOs have said no to be part of this idea coming from the Israeli cabinet and from the Israeli military."
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid, which Hamas denies, and said its blockade was necessary to pressure the militant group to release Israeli hostages.
Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to "militarise, manipulate, politicise the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south, a scheme where people will be screened, where it's a completely inoperable system."
"That would force people to move to get aid, and it would continue the starvation of the civilian population," he said, adding: "We will have no part in that."
"If one side in a bitter armed conflict tries to control, manipulate, ration aid among the civilians on the other side, it is against everything we stand for," he stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA], said the Israeli scheme "will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies."
International aid organisations as well as Palestinians in Gaza have for weeks warned of a dire humanitarian situation on the ground.
The UN's World Food Programme [WFP] has said it has depleted its food stocks and that the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.